


1000 Needles

by nicht_alles_Gold



Series: Gift This Work to ME [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, M/M, Piercings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 13:49:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15438399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicht_alles_Gold/pseuds/nicht_alles_Gold
Summary: Entirely self-serving, indulgent, specific content.





	1000 Needles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nicht_alles_Gold](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicht_alles_Gold/gifts).



> Gladio and Prompto go on a little tour around Lestallum. Extremely light Gladio/Prompto hinting.

While walking back to the hotel, carrying a couple bags each of goods from the market, Gladio suddenly paused, took a few steps back, and looked pointedly at one of the buildings.

"Something up?" Prompto asked, not sure what he was seeing, exactly. Maybe Gladio loved flying buttresses (he didn't know what that was other than some kind of architecture term. In fact he was sure Gladio loved flying buttresses, because they were on old buildings, and Gladio liked old historical shit.)

"Nah, it's nothin'," was the reply he got, and Gladio seemed satisfied enough to move on.

* * *

 A week or so had passed, and they were back in Lestallum, back in the hotel. It after noon, and hotter than usual, and everyone was laying around the room in some configuration. Noctis was barely awake, head nodding downward and then snapping back up as he browsed his phone.

Ignis was fanning himself while otherwise multitasking, he was sharpening knives, checking a task list, and looking up who-knows-what on his phone every so often. Prompto was on the floor, sweating and looking through his photos for things worth saving versus deleting. Gladio was sitting under the open window (not that it helped), reading a book and making annoyed sounds when his fingers stuck to the pages.

"Alright," Gladio said, the book slamming with a soft thud, "I'm both bored and hot as hell. Anyone up to go out and just be one of the two?"

Noctis's response was to finally faceplant onto his phone and pass out.

"I'm still working on this. I might text you and ask you to pick some things up, if that's alright," Iggy said.

"Sure. Prompto?"

The blond sat up, and looked at Noctis's prone form. "Umm. Yeah, I'll go."

"Great. Let's go. Tell us what you need, Iggy. We can pick up some dinner too if it gets late."

They headed out the door, Gladio giving a brief wave to Ignis.

As soon as the door was shut, Prompto spoke up. "Since Iggy's not here, can we get ice cream?"

Gladio laughed. "He'd let you, man."

"Yeah, but he always complains," Prompto said as his feet tapped down the stairs.

"It's not cause of you, promise."

"What, is he lactose intolerant?"

"Nah." Gladio paused for a second. "Well, maybe a little," he said, with the air of someone who'd been friends for a long time and had one experience or another, "But just a scoop wouldn't kill him."

He stopped talking, and a few seconds later Prompto gave him a look. "You didn't tell me why.”

“Damn, you noticed.” Gladio laughed as Prompto slightly pushed him in response. “Okay, but don't. Tell him. I think it's just easier for him to give a blanket 'no' to stuff like that so he can make sure Noct doesn't have an excuse to eat shit all the time. I don't think he enjoys being an arbiter like that.” He thought for a moment. “Well, he _does_ , but not constantly.”

“Huh. Okay, I guess that's fine.” They crossed the doorway into the blazing sunlight, and he heaved a sigh. “Maybe this was a bad idea, actually...”

Gladio grabbed him around the neck. “C'monn, at least we'll be doing something instead of wallowing in hot misery. I have a few ideas.”

“Okay, okay! Just lemme go,” Prompto whined, because Gladio's stinky body was way too close when the temperature was like this. “I'll participate in Gladio's Quest for today.”

“Yeah you will,” Gladio said, grinning.

* * *

 “Huh. I dunno, these might be okay...” Gladio said, hidden behind a drape.

Prompto shifted on his feet, standing in the aisle between a row of dresses and long jackets. Apparently in Lestallum, these were fairly unpopular items to keep around and got rotated out to used shops. “I can look at them if you want,” he suggested.

The drape moved aside, and Gladio came out, showing off his hairy legs, shorts, and, as he turned, his pretty nice ass. Prompto hoped he didn't look pink at the thought, but those cheeks were hugged. “Um, I guess it doesn't matter, but I think they're women's shorts.” It wasn't _just_ the ass thing, the cut was a little on the short side, and though they were black, the unfamiliar sewn on label was teal (but not like, a masculine teal), as was the fabric inside the pockets.

Gladio shrugged. “Yeah, they're not really what I'd pick, but these are the only ones that aren't too wide at the hips for me, but also not too tight on the legs. And there's almost nothing in the guy's section. Unless you think I should wear short-shorts.” He held his hand on where he meant by “short” and the phrase “hanging brain” came to Prompto's mind.

“H-hey, it's not like guys around here dress all that ruggedly or whatever. I think you'll fit in.” Prompto decided to be positive. “And whatever, if you're comfortable, then who cares.”

Turning towards the mirror, Gladio inspected himself again. “Eh, fuck it,” he decided, “They fit and I'm not wearing leather pants another second while we're here.”

* * *

“Ahhh ice cream is maybe, maybe--” Prompto paused to lick a bead of runny ice cream off his hand. “--maybe the best food ever.” He was really happy to take big, ridiculous licks off the cone, glancing back at Gladio.

“It's pretty good, but I dunno why you'd get it with salt in it.” Gladio had opted for a fruity sorbet, his other hand holding a bag with his abandoned pants in it.

“It's even better dude! Cause it contrasts with the honey and… ugh, amazing.” He considered how they could fit an ice cream maker into the already packed trunk of the car. Probably… not. Damn.

They were just kind of walking aimlessly at this point, but Gladio stopped at an intersection like he had some idea of where he wanted to go. Prompto looked over at him, lifting his eyebrows. “Was there somewhere else?”

“...Yeah, kinda. I'm not sure if I wanna go. Or if you would.”

Prompto shrugged, lewdly slurping on the ice cream. “Hey, I'm not doin' anything. Let's check it out.”

Gladio grinned, and led the way.

* * *

“Oh. Here?” Prompto was still trying to get ice cream out of the corners of his mouth. He watched Gladio inhale his ice cream, somehow biting into it with his teeth, probably because he was the strongest man on the planet in every way.

“Yeah. We don't have to.”

“No, it's cool. I'll check it out.”

Gladio nodded, and opened the door to head into the store on the second floor of this building. It was a tattoo and piercing parlor, and Prompto followed after him, nervously glancing around.

“What, you've never been in one before?” Gladio asked, smiling.

“Well, yeah, but… um, nevermind.” He grinned back, innocently.

“ _Sure_. You think I didn't hear about that little escapade you and Noct had?”

“Ugh, you Citadel guys are way too gossipy.”

“Heh, more like I had to listen to Noct get chewed out for about a week for even trying.”

One of the women in the back of the parlor came forward, welcoming them. She had tattoos up to her neck, and all over her torso, but her arms were strangely bare. Then Prompto noticed the silver balls protruding in a row on each of her arms, and tried really hard not to think about how that piercing went, his stomach flopping around a little.

“Hey, can I help you guys?” She seemed more friendly when Gladio moved forward, his tattoo obviously visible.

“I was thinking about getting some of the ink touched up here,” Gladio said, pointing at an elbow, where Prompto noticed it actually was more faded than the rest, “If you guys aren't busy.”

She barked out a laugh and spread her arms, showing off the empty shop. “Yeah, we're packed. Sure, we can squeeze you in.” She winked, and Gladio smiled back.

Why'd that guy have to be so ridiculously good at flirting? _So_ unfair. “And you?” she directed at Prompto, who pointed at himself.

“Me? Um, no, nothing.”

“We're full service right now. Tattoo, piercings, scarification...”

Gladio laughed. “I'm DIY on that one.”

She laughed too.

Prompto forced out a weak chuckle. He really didn't want to think about it.

“Hey, come on back then, take a seat and I'll get ready.” She lifted the walk-through counter and Gladio went, and she left it up with an expectant look at Prompto.

“Um, I'll look around up here for a minute, if you don't mind.”

She shrugged, but looked a little annoyed, and left the counter up. Prompto looked around the front part of the store. There were displays of different gauge rings, and the cuter studs that he guessed were for any kids that came in. Drawings of common tattoos people could get were framed and hung on the walls, most of which were kinda traditional and cheesy, nothing as high quality as Gladio's. He wondered if he was just getting it filled in here because they could follow the lines that were already made, so it wasn't such a big deal if they weren't great artists. As the sound of buzzing filled the air, he finally looked through the books placed on the counter.

One was more tattoos—some of them were more complex, and were actually pretty cool. The other book was piercings, and after he got through the normal ones, he flipped a few into the 18+ section and then closed it pretty quickly. His dick felt a little wilted looking at what people did to theirs, to be honest.

“You okay up there, Prompto?” Gladio shouted over the sound of the tattoo gun.

The woman paused for a second. “You can come and sit back here when you're bored,” she said.

He'd pretty much covered everything, so he slipped through the counter, and walked back, cautiously.

“Your footsteps aren't like an earthquake or something, y'know,” the tattooer joked.

“Sorry. I don't really know that much about it,” he admitted. He stood back to watch a little. He knew it was needles and stuff, but with her leaning over it, wiping at it every so often, it wasn't so bad. Gladio looked oddly relaxed too, his eyes usually closed, though they flicked open to look at him.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Actually, can I take a photo?”

“Fine with me,” Gladio grunted.

“It's cool,” the tattooer agreed, without looking up.

Prompto took a few shots. They came out pretty nice, in his opinion, but maybe it was just the setting and all.

“You can sit down,” the other woman said, finally speaking up. Her head was buzzed, but the short hair was dyed pink, and she was fitted with multitudes of rings and bars through her ears, nose and lips. One shoulder was scarred with a flower pattern, the other was tattooed the same, and they entangled in the center. Prompto felt naked compared to these people, but he did take a seat in the chair offered.

“You sure you're fine?” Gladio asked him again.

“Yeah. I think it's more, you know,” he pointed at his head, “getting it in my head and thinking about it is scarier.”

“I was like that too,” the piercer agreed, grinning, “then I got my first one and _bam_! In it for life.”

“Hey, how about you tell me what exactly you and Noct were planning on doing that one time. And I'll tell you about my first time?” Gladio grinned mysteriously.

“What, your first time? Getting your tattoo?”

Gladio didn't reply. Prompto tilted his head. “Okay, but don't tell Noct I told you, I think he'll be… not mad. Embarrassed, actually.” Before he told it, he briefly tried to think if there was any really relevant information tied to Noct's prince status in this story that he needed to excise with these two women around. Since he couldn't think of any, it was probably fine. “It really was his idea. He thought it'd be cool to get a bunch of tattoos, and that he could just hide them with his uniform. And if he said he was hanging out with me after school, we could get away with doing whatever for a few hours.”

A snort came from Gladio, because it was pretty ridiculous to think Noctis could escape watch for very long, or that Ignis wouldn't spot him constantly trying to stay fully clothed.

“I know! Anyway, it's probably your fault he wanted to get it done. Or maybe Nyx's.” He paused for a second, wonder what these two thought of the characters of this story. Did they think Nyx was some cool older friends? Or that Noctis was an idiot? Because that one was right. “He didn't even really have a good idea of what he wanted, he just thought we could go there and the tattoo person would be like, 'here you go'. It's even dumber thinking about it now… Anyway, he thought it would just take a few weeks and then we'd be done, and he wanted to go back one more time to get his eyebrow pierced or something. I don't know what I was thinking, cause we actually made a pact to get them pierced together, on opposite sides, because _that_ would be cool. And by then it'd be too far done so it wasn't like it could be reversed.”

“Oh shit,” Gladio said, laughing and moving enough to make the tattooer stop for the moment, just in case, “I won't tell Noct but I have to tell Iggy, okay? He deserves to hear it.”

“Fine, but if Noct finds out, he'll know I told you, and then he'll kill me, so you'll have to kill him to avenge me, and _then_ you'd be in trouble.” Prompto made his best serious face. “I guess you pretty much know the rest. We barely made it in there and the guy… kicked us out.”

“Because you two didn't even think to change out of your school uniforms when you went.”

“It was a dumb idea, okay!” He had to cut short the rest, that the guy had asked for ID, and, not receiving it, raised a stink, called the school to complain about people not of legal age thinking his shop was not legitimate. His description of them was unfortunately right on the money, and Noctis wasn't allowed anywhere right after school for some time after that. Prompto was only banned from hanging out with him for a week or so at least, before Ignis convinced Regis that it was entirely Noct's idea. In retrospect it was a hilarious mess, but at the time it was humiliating.

“Now you have to tell me yours.”

“Yeah, yeah, fair's fair. It's not as good. I was… 13? Maybe just 12. I went to a place to get it done, and it was actually sketchy, so they didn't care.”

“What? You got a tattoo at 13?”

“No, no, sorry. I got a piercing.” Gladio looked a little embarrassed now. “Just one ear. It was cool at the time, you know.”

“You sound like an old man.”

“It was cool,” the piercer agreed, “It was such a trend.”

“See? Anyway, I got it done, it was fine, and then… I--” He clearly restructured what he was going to say to make it more vague. “I ran into Cor. He was furious, dragged me to my dad, then stood there as I got lectured for like… two hours.”

“Pff, seriously?”

“I mean, he was sorta right, it could've gotten torn out easily since I was so active. He was so mad though, I thought he was going to rip it out himself to teach me a lesson or something. It was terrifying.” Gladio was smiling though. “I can't say for sure, but I actually get the feeling that might've happened to Cor.”

“You can still ask him.”

“Hell no.”

Prompto looked between the piercer and tattooer. Neither of them seemed to pick up on any of the sort of well known names being bandied around, but maybe they did and just kept out of it. They had to deal with personal stuff in general with their clients, so maybe they were fine.

“I think it'd be fine now, but I just never got around to getting it done again,” Gladio continued, “I've kinda thought about something else though. Were you into that eyebrow idea?”

“Nooo, that was all Noct.” Prompto shook his head. “I mean, I thought it was sorta cool but I was hoping by the time we got to that point, he'd forget about it.”

“Hm. I think it'd look good on you.”

Prompto was sure he was red faced, and it didn't help when the piercer agreed. “I mean, aside from our bottom line, most people look really good with piercings.” She studied his face. “Maybe a nose stud.”

“Actually, for you, tongue would be pretty cute,” Gladio added.

“W-what would I do with a tongue piercing?” Prompto asked, walking right into as he got flustered. Everyone laughed, he felt like a moron.

“A lot of guys get it here,” the piercer pointed out, eyes sparkling mischievously, “It's not unusual. And I have like, the perfect solution for washing your mouth out. It'll heal in no time.”

“That's okay, really!” He knew he was beat red, and Gladio's eyes watching him, looking supremely amused, didn't help. “I couldn't do anything like that. I'm probably too much of a wuss to even get my ears done.”

“That's probably tattoos out too then, yeah?” The tattooer piped up and leaned back, stretching. “This one's done, I'll move to the other side.”

“Yeah, I'm… I don't think I could do a tatoo,” he said, as he and the piercer swapped places with the tattooer.

“Not even a small one?” Gladio asked.

Prompto briefly rubbed his wrist against his leg, then stopped purposefully, nervous. “Nah. It looks great on some people, but I guess I feel like I'd have to care about it a lot to get it done. Y'know, permanency is scary.”

“But you know… well, I'm not tryin' to pressure you or anything, but there's really nothing you care about enough to dedicate just a couple of inches of skin to? I'm sure there is.” Gladio sounded thoughtful. “I wouldn't trade mine for anything.” This was maybe de-emphasized by him wincing as the tattooer ran over a sensitive spot. “Or even just for the art of it. But yeah, it's fine. At least piercings you can always take out if you don't like them. No harm, no foul.”

Prompto leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, I think you're right. Maybe I'll think about it.”

“Sorry,” Gladio said quickly, “You really don't gotta. You're only young once though, right?”

“Hey, we get some older clients,” the piercer said, the tattooer nodding her agreement. “Never too late to try something new.”

“Yeah...” Prompto agreed, biting his lip in thought.

It only took a while longer for Gladio's other elbow to be finished, their conversation more barren now, except for that big meathead flirting (intentionally or not, Prompto couldn't say) with both women, who Prompto was somewhat convinced were in a relationship. He tried his best to purge his mind of thinking of the three of them together, because it was uncomfortable when they were all here, and he was so hot and sticky. Finally, Gladio sat up, but he didn't immediately stand, crossing his arms over his chest. Prompto noted how red his elbows were, and wondered if it hurt, or if Gladio was used to it, or if he'd felt much more painful things and it just didn't bother him.

“Hey Prompto, you know how I said I've been thinking about getting some piercings?”

_Some_? “Yeah.”

“...Would you mind waiting a little longer if I do that?”

Prompto shrugged. “Sure, no problem. What were you--”

Gladio answered by pulling off his shirt in a fluid motion, revealing even more of his hairy chest. “Nipples.”

Prompto's mouth dropped open. That… wasn't what he expected. At all. “Wait, wait, really?”

“Heh, I guess I convinced myself with all that 'you're only young once' shit. I wanna try it, and if it gets in the way, I'll pop them out.”

Prompto was struck with how very brave Gladio was. The piercer grinned and went to get a small case showing off the sizes and styles of ring they had. He bit his lip even harder watching Gladio pick them out, like this was all no big deal that he just _decided_ to do it.

“I… I'll do it too,” he blurted out. Gladio looked confused at him for a second, then grinned wolfishly. “Wait, sorry,” Prompto held his hands up, “I mean, I'll get _something_. Not, that.”

“Eyebrow?” Gladio asked.

“No! I'll just… get my ears done, okay? If I like it, maybe I'll get some more.”

The piercer looked really pleased at this turn of events. “Alright! They'll look great on you. You should go to the front and pick out some studs, or a small barbell or whatever you'll be happy to wear until it heals. 18 gauge, unless you wanted something bigger. There's a lot, so take your time.”

He went to the front, looking at the case. A lot of them were a little too gemstoney or cutesy for him, so he settled for a plain looking set, with a flat black stud instead of a ball at the end. The tattooer came over to grab them for him, and he went back to sit with Gladio, his heart already pounding. The piercer was swabbing one of his nipples to clean it, and then grabbed some scissor-like things and…

Prompto looked away immediately when she gripped the nipple and stretched it.

“Hey, you can't pass out if I can't,” Gladio said, sounding a little pained. Prompto felt something against his hand—Gladio's hand, reassuringly. “It'll be fine.” He allowed his hand to be taken, and squeezed lightly. He wasn't quite sure if he was helping Gladio or the other way around. “Maybe don't look though,” Gladio warned, with a half-laugh.

Prompto kept his eyes off, even when Gladio's hand twitched. “Mm, fuck, that was… ouch. Do the other one before my adrenaline wears off,” he joked, though his voice surprisingly had a hint of weakness. Maybe because he was actually watching it.

The piercer seemed to do it as fast as she could, and he felt Gladio jolt a little bit more the second time. “Wow. That's… rougher than I thought.”

Prompto dared to look back now, and noted that Gladio actually looked slightly pale, but fine. He looked down at his nipples, now pierced by a long, sorta thick-looking barbell that the piercer was screwing the ends onto.

“Looks good on you,” Prompto said, not feeling quite as faint anymore.

“You don't have to say that.”

“No, really. It's...” Don't say hot, he told himself. “I dunno, it suits you, I guess. You could get away with some more, if you wanted.”

“Bellybutton?”

Prompto blinked. “I mean, you do have the most chiseled abs ever, if you want to decorate them it makes sense.”

“Heh, thanks for the reassurance. Nah, I'm good… for now.” He was looking down at his chest, and looking… pretty proud. Prompto could tell he wanted to touch, but the piercer had already briefed him on not doing that if possible. “Good excuse to not wear a shirt.”

“Like you ever need an excuse.”

Gladio lightly bopped him on the shoulder with his fist. “Okay, now it's your turn. Still wanna hold hands?”

Prompto frowned. “Um…”

Gladio just took his hand again anyway. “It's fine. Squeeze my hand instead of jerking around, you know? It really doesn't hurt that much. You've been through worse.”

“You're reassuring me _too_ much at this point!” Still, holding hands was fine with him. Gladio's was all strong and dry, so he it made him feel better that his were clammy and gross.

The piercer did her thing—cleaning, drawing dots on his ears and asking what he thought—and had him tilt his head. He closed his eyes, just listening to Gladio breathing next to him. “Take in a breath,” she said. He did, and felt the pinch in his ear.

“O-oh,” he said, waiting for her to finish inserting the stud, “That… yeah. It's like a shot.”

“Like I said, you've had worse.” Gladio gave his hand a little squeeze.

She moved to the other side and prepared, and Prompto definitely noticed a vague sense of wooziness swimming in his head. After the piercing this time, though, he hissed out a breath.

“Ow, ow, _damn_ ,” he whined, trying to keep from fidgeting now.

“Told you, second one's worse.”

“It's weirrrrrd,” Prompto said, definitely feeling more of a throb on that ear than the first one.

“Yep, adrenaline can be a bitch.” Gladio stood, going over to one of the mirrors on the wall to admire himself. He squished up his pecs in a curious way, and Prompto felt sort of embarrassed that he saw it, and even more so that Gladio seemed to notice his noticing. He started to stand, but Gladio looked back at him and motioned to stop.

“Just wait a minute. Make sure you feel okay. Hey, can you get him some water?”

It was hot, after all, so Prompto accepted the water… and was thankful Gladio had warned him, because really, he felt sorta shaky, and he could tell he was pale(r).

“You okay?” Even the piercer was worried, biting her lip as she watched him. “Don't pass out on us.”

That would be really pathetic. “No, I'm okay, promise.”

“Yeah, he's tougher than he looks.” Gladio backed him up, and came back to sit with him. He looked at both sides of Prompto, and shot him a smile. “They look great. I mean, black matches black, but it suits you.”

“Yeah?” Prompto grinned himself, finally, and started to reach his hands up, but stopped himself. “Aghh I just want to touch them now.”

“Well, you seem fine to me.” Gladio slid out his phone and looked at it. “Damn, Iggy sent a message a while ago. We've been out longer than I thought.” He went quiet to reply, and then put it away. “If you're good to go, we should get on our way.”

He went with the tattooer to pay for everything, and Prompto sat, nursing his water. Eventually he stood when he was sure he wouldn't suddenly collapse, and went to the mirror to admire his reflection. Aside from the redness, he actually really liked it. He tipped his head this way and that, and obviously took a selfie to commemorate the occasion.

“You look ready to go,” Gladio said from the front.

“Yep!” He went to the front as well, and got the short version of the care speech (they also gave out a short pamphlet, so they were covered) since they were in a hurry. They thanked the tattooer and piercer and walked out the door…

At which point Prompto noticed Gladio had tossed his shirt into the bag he'd had before as well. So now he was just going to walk around in tight shorts, with his sorta mad looking nipples all out and… “Uh, you forget to put that back on or…?”

“Whatever, we're not going that far, and it's hot, it'll help the less I bother them, _and_ I don't give a shit. Let 'em look.”

Prompto wished he had half that courage, as they paraded past many, many people coming home from work or the market or going to dinner, quite a lot of them with their eyes on the prize. His stupid glorious body was all out there and yeah, Prompto was sorta jealous. Seriously, how unfair.

They got to the market and bought the things Ignis wanted, plus dinner, and were almost back at the hotel when Gladio spoke up. “Hey, let's stop for a sec.”

Prompto just looked at him as they pulled aside into some shade, and watched him jostle around in the bag for a second. “I got some for myself, for replacing later so they don't get snagged on things. It'll be a pretty long time for me, but...” He pulled out another box and presented it to Prompto. “You'll get to be able to do it in a couple of months. So I got you one.”

“Woah. Really?” He opened the box. They were simple little silver stars, kinda cutesy, but not bad.

“Sorry if they're girly.”

“Nah, they're cool. Thanks a lot, that was really nice of you.” He gave him an appreciative smile. “But now you're making me have to wait to change them, which sucks.”

“Man, you have it better than me. It's gonna be months til I can play with these bad boys.” Gladio stuck out his chest. “I'll tell you when they're ready though.”

“What? Shut up!” Prompto knew he was red, yet again, but Gladio even fake flirting with him was just… he was so susceptible, damnit. “Don't give me a gift and then be a dick.”

“Hey, maybe it was a suggestion of a gift you could give me.”

Prompto narrowed his eyes. He couldn't tell if Gladio was being serious or not. “Let's get back before Iggy sends out a search party.”

He turned so he could avoid looking at Gladio again, but he did hear the other guy let out an amused snort in response.

* * *

Prompto walked in first, and got a standard, distracted greeting, as if neither Noctis nor Ignis even glanced up at him. Gladio followed, and it was like he'd kicked the door open and screamed.

“Glad. I. Olus. _What_ are those.” Gladio could've gotten his piercings from the stabbing stare of Ignis's eyeballs.

“Holy shit, Gladio. Did you get delicious from heat stroke?” Noctis at least sounded amused, but surprised.

“H-hey, check this out though!” Prompto tried to attract some attention by pointing to his ears. It didn't work.

“I was in the mood, so I got them done. Why not?” He shrugged.

Ignis shook his head. “I don't know why I'm so surprised. Once you have an idea in your head it's not going away.”

Gladio grinned and slapped Iggy's arm in a friendly way. “Now you've got it.”

“Just don't cry to us when a coeural conducts electricity through them.”

Noct was up from the bed and inspecting them closely. “Ouch. Didn't that hurt?”

“Eh, I think it hurt Prompto more than it hurt me.”

Noctis laughed, and looked over at his friend. “Oh, hey, you got your ears pierced? Did'ya cry?”

Prompto stuck out his tongue. “No! I bet you would've.” He dodged Noct reaching out to touch them. “Stooop, they already hurt without you pulling them all over.”

“Now I kinda want to get it done.”

“No,” Ignis said, preemptively.

“Aw, c'mon, why not? You can get some too, Ig.” Noctis frowned. “I dunno what, though.”

“Hey, I have an idea,” Gladio said, with a suspicious tone.

“Don't you dare,” Ignis threatened.

“Wait, did Ignis have a piercing misadventure too?” Prompto asked, “C'monn, you have to tell it.”

“Seriously? Iggy, please,” Noctis pleased.

“If you do I'm calling Cor on you, Gladio.”

Gladio laughed. “Just tell it. You don't have to cook or anything so there's no distractions. Amuse the kids.”

“Oh, fine.” Ignis crossed his arms. “But you better appreciate it.”

“Man, I love hearing secrets from you,” Noctis said, sitting on the edge of the bed like it was storytime, “I don't know how you did anything without me knowing.”

“Well, I had some time to myself.” His ears were a little bit red. “I thought about getting a piercing but didn't. The end.”

“Specs, you gotta tell us!” Prompto pleaded, hugging a pillow against his chest, “Pleeease.”

“Fine. I thought it might be interesting to get something, but I couldn't get it anywhere visible, so that ruled out most of what I'd want. For obvious reasons.” Maybe obvious to him, since there were plenty of pierced people working in the Citadel, but he probably had different (maybe self-imposed) limitations. “So there were only a few options. I didn't want to do anything too… sensitive...” Careful word choice. “And I wasn't about to go so far as any kind of surface piercing that would just be rejected. So I picked my navel.”

Noctis let out an unattractive, snorty laugh. “Wow, seriously? For you, that's… actually, you kind of have the body for it, don't you...”

“Let him finish,” Gladio said.

“Well, I went to the shop to get it done, and while I was waiting, someone came in to discuss getting a Wanderer piercing.”

“Uh, a what?” Prompto asked.

“It's a dick piercing,” Gladio answered.

Prompto's mind flashed back to some of the photos he'd witnessed.

“Oof, really?” Noctis groaned, “How does that even work.”

Gladio briefly described how it worked.

“Thanks, I'm gonna go die now.”

“Oh, just wait.” Gladio was clearly pleased.

“And I glanced up— _innocently—_ and it was… someone from the Citadel. And he definitely would recognize me. So I walked out and never could bring myself to go back.”

“What? Iggy, who was it. Please?” Noctis begged.

“I'm not telling you. Ever.”

“Please!”

“Maybe you don't want to know.” Gladio pushed himself off the wall, and grabbed the bag of food they'd gotten from the market.

“But that just makes me want to know, because I definitely know who it is!”

“Maybe you _don't_ want to think about that person's dick pierced every which way.”

“Anyway, that's my story. Now, to be fair, I think you owe me the explanation of what _you_ were thinking when you--”

“Fine, I don't want to know who it was anyway,” Noctis replied, nervously, “Let's eat, I'm starved. What'd you get?”

Gladio held out the greasy bag for Noctis to take his pick. “Skewers.”

Noctis looked between Gladio's face, his nipples, and the sticks with food on them. “Dude, that's screwed up.” It didn't stop him from taking one, and Gladio laughed loudly.


End file.
